Combined freezer and cube crusher



July 11, l939 w. H. PRICHARD A COMBINED FREEZER AND CUBE CRUSHER Filed NOV. 4, 1936 "u". nulli.

Patented July 11, 1939 UNITED STATES COMBINED FREEZER. AND CUBE CRUSHER.

Warren H. Prichard, Winchendon, Mass., assignor to The Alaska. Freezer Co., Inc., Winchendon, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 4, 1936, Serial No. 109,083

2 Claims.

This invention relates to ice cream freezers intended for domestic use.

It is the general object of my invention to provide a freezer of the domestic type having improved means for crushing and breaking pieces of ice such as the ice cubes formed in electric refrigerators. An important feature of my invention relates to the provision of an ice crusher mounted directly on the gear head and driving shaft of the freezer and discharging the crushed ice directly into the freezer tub.

A further object of my invention is to improve the details of construction of the ice crusher, so that it may be .more effectively adapted to its intended purposes.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of my improved freezer and crusher;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan View thereof, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation of the Crusher, taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown a freezer comprising a tub I in which a can II and dash I2 are rotatably supported. A gear head I5 is movably mounted on the tub IIJ and is held in position by locking lugs or projections IE5 and the usual clamping bolt Il.

Bevel gears 20 are mounted in the gear head I5 and are oppositely rotated by a bevel pinion 2I on a drive shaft 22 manually rotatable by a handle 23. The bevel gears 20 are detachably connected to the can I I and dash I2 and rotate these parts in opposite directions when the shaft 22 is turned.

The parts thus far described are of the usual form and taken alone form no part of my present invention.

The driving shaft 22 is mounted in bearings 30 and 3l in the side walls 32 and 33 of an ice crusher casing 34 which is also provided with a front wall 35 and a rear wall 36. The rear wall 36 is outwardly curved eccentric toV the drive shaft 22 and preferably has an inwardly projecting lower edge portion 31,

Crusher teeth are mounted directly on the drive shaft 22 and in the form shown in the drawing three sets of teeth are provided. The middle tooth members 40 rotate between plates 4I mounted on the back Wall 36 of the casing 34. Two sets of end teeth 42 are disposed at the sides of the middle tooth members 4I] and outside of the plates 4I. A plurality of lugs or inward projections 44, preferably diamond-shaped, are pro- Vided above and between the plates 4I.

The middle tooth members 4l] are of substantial length and are preferably of the particular conformation shown in Fig. 3, with a plurality of sharp points or projections on each tooth member 40.

It will be noted that the casing 34 is so located on the gear head I5 that the crushed ice is discharged directly into the annular space between the tub I0 and can I I. It is thus possible to add more ice to the freezer at any time during the freezing operation and without suspending the freezing operation.

Furthermore, my improved ice crusher is particularly adapted forcrushing and breaking the small ice cubes produced in electric refrigerators. The tooth members 40 force the cubes against the diamond-shaped projections 54, thus splitting the cubes into fragments which are then carried down against the plates 4I by the teeth 4E! and 42 and are further broken up to the small sizes desired for use. The eccentric wall 36 assists in the crushing operation.

The permanent mounting of the crusher direct on the main driving shaft 22 is of particular advantage, as the crusher is always ready for immediate use, and it is not necessary to remove the gear head in order to attach the ice crusher to the freezer.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I` claim is:

1. In a combined ice-cream freezer and ice Crusher, in combination, a freezer tub, a gearv head supported by and removably mounted on said tub, an ice Crusher casing formed on and integral with said gear head and having a direct vertical downward discharge passage to the interior of said tub, a drive shaft extending through and rotatable in bearings in said removable gear head and casing, freezer-actuating connections from said shaft disposed axially of said tub, and crusher elements mounted on said shaft and rotatable entirely within said casing which is positioned wholly within an upward projection of the walls of said tub and substantially at one side of the freezer-actuating connections.

2. In combination with an ice cream freezer, including an open-mounthed receptacle having a substantially at upper edge, and a freezer can and freezer operating mechanism within the receptacle and spaced from the walls thereof, a Crusher of ice and driving mechanism for said operating mechanism and said Crusher, comprising a support bridging said receptacle and disposed at its opposite ends upon said flat uper edge, a housing carried by said support intermediate the ends thereof, a gear within said housing operatively connected with said freezer operating mechanism, a receptacle for said ice, said receptacle being integral with and forming a part of said support between said housingand a Wall of said rst named receptacle, said last named receptacle having an upwardly opening mouth, a o

chamber and a discharge mouth adjacent one side Wall of said first named receptacle, a rotatable ice crushing member in said chamber, and a single means to operate said gear and said ice crushing member, including a shaft extending from outwardly of said last named receptacle, through a Wall thereof and through said chamber, said ice crushing member being mounted upon and secured to said shaft, a gear secured to said shaft at an end thereof and meshing with said first named gear, and an operating member carried by said shaft at the opposite end thereof, said receptacle for ice being Wholly Within an upward projection of the walls of said rst named receptacle.

WARREN H. PRICHARD. 

